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Published on October 29, 2024

Discover how vitamin D plays a crucial role in supporting your immune system

Dr. Aileen Burford-Mason PhD is an immunologist, nutritionist and independent research analyst, healthcare writer and lecturer. She regularly talks to medical and allied health professionals and to the general public on nutritional research as applied to immunity, healthy aging, disease prevention, and stress. She received her undergraduate training in biochemistry at University College, Dublin, Ireland, and her Ph.D. in immunology at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK. Formerly Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, she was Director of the Conacher Head and Neck Cancer Research Laboratory at The Toronto General Hospital.

Her published research papers cover diverse fields, including nutrition, immunology, gastroenterology, microbiology, pathology, cancer, and AIDS. She currently divides her time between teaching and her private practice as an orthomolecular nutrition consultant. Dr. Burford-Mason has a long-standing interest in consumers’ health issues, especially as they relate to the regulation of dietary supplements and has been actively involved in developing regulations governing nutritional supplements in Canada. She is the author of three best-selling books on nutrition and health – Eat Well Age Better (Dundurn Press), The Healthy Brain (HarperCollins Canada). Her most recent book is The War against Viruses: How the Science of optimal nutrition can help you win (HarperCollins Canada).

Join Dr. Aileen Burford-Mason, Ph.D., as she breaks down the difference between innate and adaptive immunity, explores how vitamin D helps regulate immune responses, and delves into its connection with T-cells, respiratory infections, and even COVID-19. This presentation is packed with vital information for improving your immune health.

Learn more by watching this recorded lecture by Dr. Burford-Mason. Click through directly to specific topics below.

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Key Points from the Video

Introduction of Dr. Mason 0:00-0:51
A Brief Overview of Your Immune System: The Body’s Defense Mechanism 1:10 – 1:48
Innate & Adaptive Immunity and B-Cells 4:17 – 5:43
Regulating Immunity with Vitamin D 7:30 – 11:18
Vitamin D and T-cells 14:26 – 15:37
Vitamin D & Respiratory Tract Infections (RTIs) 15:38-22:49
Vitamin D and COVID 19 22:50-28:50
Clinical Trials and Vitamin D 28:00 – 35:00
Vitamin D is NOT a Drug 37:23 – 38:41

Watch the Full Video Here
Watch Additional Presentations from our Ongoing Forum Here

Measure Your Levels of Vitamin D, Magnesium, and Other Important Nutrients and Markers

Having and maintaining healthy vitamin D, magnesium, omega-3s, zinc and other nutrient levels can help improve your health now and for your future. Choose which to measure, such as your vitamin D, omega-3s, and essential minerals including magnesium and zinc, by creating your custom home test kit today. Take steps to improve the status of each of these measurements to benefit your overall health. You can also track your own intakes, symptoms and results to see what works best for YOU.

Enroll and test your levels today, learn what steps to take to improve your status of vitamin D (see below) and other nutrients and blood markers, and take action! By enrolling in the GrassrootsHealth projects, you are not only contributing valuable information to everyone, you are also gaining knowledge about how you could improve your own health through measuring and tracking your nutrient status, and educating yourself on how to improve it.

How Can You Use this Information for YOUR Health?

Having and maintaining healthy vitamin D and other nutrient levels can help improve your health now and for your future. Measuring is the only way to make sure you are getting enough!

STEP 1 Order your at-home blood spot test kit to measure vitamin D and other nutrients of concern to you, such as omega-3s, magnesium, essential and toxic elements (zinc, copper, selenium, lead, cadmium, mercury); include hsCRP as a marker of inflammation or HbA1c for blood sugar health

STEP 2 Answer the online questionnaire as part of the GrassrootsHealth study

STEP 3 Using our educational materials and tools (such as our dose calculators), assess your results to determine if you are in your desired target range or if actions should be taken to get there

STEP 4 After 3-6 months of implementing your changes, re-test to see if you have achieved your target level(s)

Enroll in D*action and Build Your Custom Test Kit!